This is the message given by Pastor Robert Taylor on the Sabbath Day 5 October 2013 at the Santa Barbara Seventh-day Adventist Christian church in Santa Barbara, CA.
Are you tired, worn our or stressed out? This message is for you!
Genesis 2:1-4
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Sabbath Day of rest was made for man. God is the Creator. Evolution theory removes the fact that God is the Creator. The reason Evolution is a theory is that there is no proof that all life forms came from a single organism. Evolution is a philosophy. Here is the definition of evolution found on Ask.com:
“Evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations.” Evolution philosophy teaches that life and species on this earth are to get better and better over time. This philosophy is opposite of what the message of creation reveals in the Bible.
The Holy Bible says: Heaven and earth were finished in six days. We are all faced with a choice. Do we accept that Evolution is true or is God’s Word true?
Man is able and may rearrange life on this earth but man can never add to creation. There is evidence of micro evolution when you look at how a species of dogs has bred with other species and created a totally different mixed breed of dog but evolution theory can never create into existence a dog that is not now here.
God created man during creation week. God’s way is perfect. God provides everything in the first six days and then rested on the Seventh Day. So after creating man, God knew that man would need a weekly rest which came first. Then God sanctified and gave His blessing on the 7th Day Sabbath. Here is a beautiful passage from Patriarchs and Prophets page 47:
The Creator gave them still another token of His love, by preparing a garden especially for their home. In this garden were trees of every variety, many of them laden with fragrant and delicious fruit.
There were lovely vines, growing upright, yet presenting a most graceful appearance, with their branches drooping under their load of tempting fruit of the richest and most varied hues. It was the work of Adam and Eve to train the branches of the vine to form bowers, thus making for themselves a dwelling from living trees covered with foliage and fruit.
There were fragrant flowers of every hue in rich profusion. In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit appeared like apples of gold and silver, and had the power to perpetuate life.
The creation was now complete. “The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Eden bloomed on earth. Adam and Eve had free access to the tree of life. No taint of sin or shadow of death marred the fair creation. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Job 38:7.
The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty and had filled it with things useful to man; He had created all the wonders of the land and of the sea. In six days the great work of creation had been accomplished. And God “rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”
God looked with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His glory.
After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart, as a day of rest for man. Following the example of the Creator, man was to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon the heavens and the earth, he might reflect upon God’s great work of creation; and that as he should behold the evidences of God’s wisdom and goodness, his heart might be filled with love and reverence for his Maker.
Genesis 1:31
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
God looked back and noticed all that He had created and it was all good including mankind. God wants to be part of your life today.
The Pharisees loaded up the Sabbath with all kinds of rules and regulations. Jesus had many confrontations with the Pharisees and Chief Priests over the Sabbath, God’s merciful appointment with man. We all need the Sabbath for remembrance. He is our Creator. He designed us to Seek Him.
God doesn’t want us to burn out. We can do work of mercy and necessity but your daily burdens should be set aside. You will be more productive the other 6 days of the week.
The Sabbath is the pause that refreshes. Celebrate God’s creative power. Spend time in God’s Word and attend church with other Sabbath keeping Christians. Take a nature hike with your family. Visit a shut in or someone that is lonely and be a blessing to them. You will be refreshed and grow from the experience. God Bless You!